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Oelwein Middle School fifth graders of Mrs. Unwin’s class are participating in a sock drive in recognition of the upcoming Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service. Pictured from left to right are fifth graders Karter Hardwick, Landon Dowd and Landen Whitaker. Socks are being collected through next Thursday and will be donated to the Iowa Children’s Hospital and the Veteran’s Hospital.

For Middle School fifth graders kind deeds begin with socks

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Oelwein Middle School fifth graders of Mrs. Unwin’s class are participating in a sock drive in recognition of the upcoming Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service. Pictured from left to right are fifth graders Karter Hardwick, Landon Dowd and Landen Whitaker. Socks are being collected through next Thursday and will be donated to the Iowa Children’s Hospital and the Veteran’s Hospital.

Fifth grade social studies students at Oelwein Middle School are working on a service project that will donate socks to the less fortunate.

The event runs until next Thursday in coordination with the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. The socks will be donated to the Iowa Children’s Hospital and the Veteran’s Hospital.

Oelwein fifth grade teacher Michelle Unwin said her students have been learning about civics, the civil rights movement and doing kind deeds for the community.

“The first unit, we talked about the Constitution and the Founding Fathers, and this one is focusing on what to do if you want to make a change in society,” Unwin said. “One standard specific to fifth grade for Iowa students is talking about the civil rights movement in Iowa and we will end our year talking about financial responsibility.”

The fifth-grade students decided on a sock drive by a vote after discussing three other options.

Fifth grade student Karter Hardwick said he helped contact people for donations and decorate donation boxes.

“I learned a lot of people don’t have money to buy stuff,” Hardwick said. “Everybody is not at the same level and everybody is up and down on money.”

Fifth grade student Landen Whitaker said he learned to be thankful for what you have and to donate to the less fortunate.

“We’re getting to do fun stuff with the donations,” Whitaker said. “We got to make the video, do boxes and are going to make posters to set out in places around the community.”

The posters will be placed at local businesses, along with donation boxes.

Unwin said the students are working on a video that will be made once the service project is completed.

“[It will show] the beginning stages, the middle stages and the end stages,” Unwin said.

The big donation box in Mrs. Unwin’s class is shaped like a castle and was helped designed by an adult volunteer.

“The kids started helping make it and she made it outside of class and they made these collection boxes to put around town,” Unwin said. “Country Cottage is one place a couple of students have connections to, so it’s kind of morphed into each class having their own responsibility.”